PHD names Midwest president

Mary Carpenter's new role is part of a reorganization focused on local-market leadership.

PHD Worldwide on Friday named Mary Carpenter president of PHD Midwest as part of a reorganization that focuses on regional offices.

In her new role based in Chicago, Carpenter will oversee a roster of clients that includes SC Johnson (which PHD won in January) as well as Kohler, HP and Hormel Foods.

Carpenter joins PHD from WPP’s Mindshare, where she was managing partner, performance marketing. She also worked for more than a decade at Starcom Mediavest Group, PHD said.

She joins a coterie of new presidents appointed from within PHD’s ranks by PHD US CEO Nathan Brown after his appointment to the Omnicom Media Group agency in September 2014. Briony McCarthy is president of PHD NY, Anne Marie Schaeffer is president of PHD West Coast, and Star Kalatzan is president of the healthcare practice.

"Mary’s smarts in performance marketing, coupled with her track record for getting her hands dirty as a leader, make her a perfect cultural fit for PHD," Brown said in a statement. "She has both the brains and the brawn to take PHD to a whole new level in the Midwest."

The PHD Midwest office was most recently led by Chris Whalen, who held the title of managing director before moving to PHD’s corporate sibling OMD as a global account director.